For Albury aerial photographer David Taylor, Lake Hume and Lake Eyre are polar opposites.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
One is man-made, surrounded by hills and usually has water in it, while the other is in dry desert, filling only three times in the last century.
Lake Eyre reached 80 per cent capacity earlier this year, giving David one of his most powerful palettes yet.
He flew twice with his son Rowand in January and March, when inflows combined with salt, algae and weeds to create stunning pinks and yellows.
Their joint exhibition opens at MAMA this week, but David stressed it was not about them but bringing the ethereal landscape of the rarely visited Lake Eyre to the Border.
“It’s about the beauty of nature and the millions of years of blending colours, swirls and patterns,’’ he said.
“A one-in-80 year event of a local rainfall had filled the lake – it was a highly unusual sight with the red desert against the green grasses and spinifex.”
And it was clear David had passed on his love for the Australian landscape to his son.
Having already worked in New York and Berlin photography studios, Rowand said the wildness of the outback had stayed with him.
“I love the peace, the colours, nature and the sheer rawness of the landscape,’’ he said. “It’s about listening to the land, and being aware of what you are feeling.’’
Lake Eyre was renamed Kati Thanda as a nod to the Arabana mob’s sacred name in 2012, which describes the lake that formed after the pelt of a kangaroo was spread over the ground.
It’s the nation’s largest lake at 9500sqkm, and is the lowest natural point in Australia at 15 metres below sea level, which is reflected in the title of the show: Kati-Thanda 15 Below.
David hoped those who attended would think about how we, as a society, could do better to manage our natural land.
“What interests me most is to be able to share in the beauty and peace I see from above,” he said.
“The vastness of our wilderness is vital for our spirit and creativity.’’
The artist John Olsen described Lake Eyre as “the void”, because of its enormity when full and when waterless.
“There it is and there it isn't,” he wrote. “A kind of basin, an inland sea.”
David will speak at MAMA on Thursday from 5.30pm.